IPEN

Kathmandu, Nepal - The Center for Public Health and Environmental Development (CEPHED) and the International Pollutants Elimination Network (IPEN) welcome the decision by the government of Nepal last week to ban three highly hazardous pesticides (HHPs) long linked to serious health and environmental concerns. The production, sale, use, and trade of three farm chemicals, chlorpyrifos, phorate, and paraquat is banned immediately, according to the decision by the country’s Pesticide Management Committee.

The Nepali decision follows the September 2023 founding of the Global Framework on Chemicals (GFC), which initiated a collaborative Global Alliance on HHPs, with a goal of phasing out all HHPs by 2035. The health risks of the three pesticides banned by Nepal are indicative of the risks from HHPs:

• Chlorpyrifos and Phorate are two toxic organophosphate insecticides, a group of pesticides linked to harms to fetal and children’s brain development and certain cancers. This fall, the Stockholm Convention’s science review committee recommended a global ban on chlorpyrifos, a decision that the COP will consider in spring 2025.
• Paraquat is a toxic herbicide linked to Parkinson’s disease in studies going back more than thirty years and to other serious health concerns.

“We have long worked to document the health and environmental threats from these harmful farm chemicals, so we fully support and applaud the decision to protect public health and the environment with this strong regulation,” said Ram Charitra Sah, Executive Director and Environmental Scientist at CEPHED. “By banning these chemicals, Nepal is leading the global community and fulfilling our national obligation toward the realization of the new GFC policy on HHPs and the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs). We expect prompt and assertive implementation of this ban throughout Nepal.”

IPEN calls for listing lead chromates under the Rotterdam Convention to promote countries’ right to know about lead chromate imports 

Geneva, Switzerland-Ahead of the third open-ended working group (OEWG) meeting of a UN Environment Assembly process to develop a Science-Policy Panel for informing global policy development around chemicals, waste, and the prevention of pollution in order to protect human health, the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) and IPEN are calling for protections in the process against undue influence by the chemicals, fossil fuels, plastics, and other industries with vested interests. The groups warn that these industries have long histories of manipulating science and using deceptive tactics to derail and delay regulations, favoring their profits over public health. 

The OEWG this 17-21 June in Geneva will consider vital elements around the industry’s influence on the Panel, including a conflict-of-interest policy and measures around corporate secrecy that will be key to ensuring the integrity of the Panel’s work. 

Recent research published in the British Medical Association journal BMJ Open notes the growing evidence that “…the economic power of corporations, particularly that of large transnationals, has led to the defeat, delay and weakening of public health policies around the world.” Further, a published review of Conflict of Interest (COI) in scientific research related to regulation and litigation showed that industry manipulates research through funding, research design, data falsification or fabrication, data analysis and interpretation, and suppression of results. It also showed that conflicts of interest damage the public trust in research.  

See the press release in Korean and Vietnamese here.

New report finds Samsung’s manufacturing in Vietnam has threatened the health of workers and surrounding communities

(Seoul, South Korea): Despite global use of consumer electronics and chemical-intensive manufacturing processes, the harsh realities of electronics manufacturing have largely been hidden from public sight. Now for the first time, an industry insider has stepped forward as a whistleblower, providing internal documents and photos revealing Samsung’s polluting operations, worker health and safety issues, poor management, outsourcing of harm, double standards, and violations of UN human rights principles.

The whistleblower’s findings are revealed in an unprecedented, detailed study released today by Supporters for the Health and Rights of Workers in the Semiconductor Industry (SHARPS) in South Korea, the Research Centre for Gender, Family and Environment in Development (CGFED) in Vietnam, and IPEN.  The whistleblower worked for forty years as a manager of environmental, health and safety at Samsung and spent years conducting internal investigations of the company’s factories and suppliers in Vietnam from 2012 – 2021, documenting polluting operations continuing to the present.

“Samsung and its suppliers have demonstrated deep disrespect for Vietnam’s environment and its workers,” said Ms. Pham Thi Minh Hang, CGFED. “Samsung should fulfill the right to safe and healthy environment and support the right to form independent trade unions by advocating for Vietnam’s ratification of ILO Convention 87 instead of lobbying against it.”